Iran said to reject plan for sending fuel abroad

In its offer, Tehran would keep ample nuclear stockpile

October 30, 2009|By Paul Richter and Borzou Daragahi, Tribune Newspapers and Daragahi reported from Beirut. Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran and Julia Damianova in Vienna contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Iran's response Thursday to a proposed deal to transform its controversial nuclear material into fuel for a medical reactor is "inadequate," a senior Western diplomat said, adding that it failed to address key United States and European concerns about the country's nuclear intentions.

The proposal to temporarily move most of Iran's nuclear fuel to Russia and France for processing would reduce its stockpile below the threshold necessary for making a nuclear bomb, possibly creating breathing room for a broader agreement between Tehran and those worried about its atomic research program.

But according to the diplomat, Iran wants to send its uranium abroad in smaller batches over an undetermined stretch of time, rather than transfer it all by year's end, as outlined under the proposal offered by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

That would allow Iran to quickly replenish its stock.

Further disappointing the West after almost a week of delay and a flurry of contradictory signals, Iran did not submit a formal written response, the diplomat said. Instead, Iran's nuclear envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, described the offer to ElBaradei.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, while refusing to describe the Iranian response, said American officials were working with ElBaradei on the issue.

"We need further clarification," he said. "And I think it's also fair to say that we need to have a formal response from Iran at this point."

Diplomats were publicly mum about the Iranian offer, suggesting no immediate resolution of a years-long standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions. ElBaradei described the proposal as an "initial response."

"The director-general is engaged in consultations with the government of Iran as well as all relevant parties, with the hope that agreement on his proposal can be reached soon," the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a release.

Iranian officials and commentators have said for days that Iran would accept the U.S.-backed proposal but seek amendments. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the West had changed its posture from "confrontation" to "cooperation" over Iran's nuclear ambitions, suggesting that he welcomed the deal.

Iran's uranium at center of dispute

Iran has amassed about 3,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium, or LEU, at its Natanz facility.

The IAEA plan would commit Iran to send more than 2,600 pounds of LEU abroad by year's end for refining, leaving too little uranium to fuel a nuclear bomb.

Iran's counteroffer is not formal, but diplomats say Iran seeks to send less uranium, over more time, or to refine the uranium itself under international inspection.